University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


IMMIGRATION   OF   CHINESE. 
SPEECH 

OF 

HON.  JOHN  H.  MITCHELL, 

OF    OREGON, 


IN  THE 


SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES, 


MAY  16,  1876. 


1876. 


SPEECH 

OF 

HON.    JOHN    H.    MITCHELL, 


The  Senate  having  under  consideration  the  bill  (S.  No.  829)  to  restrict  the  immi 
gration  of  Chinese  to  the  United  States- 
Mr.  MITCHELL  said : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  The  bill  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Califor 
nia,  [Mr.  SA'RGENT,]  presented  by  him  yesterday,  not  having  been 
printed,  I  have  not  had  an  opportunity,  of  course,  to  examine  its  pro 
visions.  I  have,  however,  a  general  knowledge,  I  think,  of  their  im 
port.  I  move,  therefore,  to  take  up  the  resolution  introduced  by  the 
Senator  from  California  a  few  days  ago,  having  reference  to  the  ref 
ormation  of  the  treaty  with  China. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  Senator  from  Oregon  moves  to 
take  the  resolution  offered  by  the  Senator  from  California  [Mr.  SAR 
GENT]  from  the  table.  The  Chair  hears  no  objection,  and  the  follow 
ing  resolution  is  before  the  Senate : 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  (recommends  to  the  President  that  he  cause  negotia 
tions  to  be  entered  upon  with  the  Chinese  government  to  effect  such  change  in  the 
existing  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  China  as  will  lawfully  permit  the 
application  of  restrictions  upon  the  great  influx  of  Chinese  subjects  to  this  country. 

-  Mr.  MITCHELL.  I  was  about  to  say  that  not  having  had  an  op 
portunity  to  examine  into  the  provisions  of  the  bill  introduced  by  the 
Senator  from  California  yesterday,  I  desire  more  especially  to  speak 
to  the  resolution  now  before  the  Senate. 

The  importance  of  the  questions  involved  in  the  pending  resolution 
and  the  magnitude  of  the  evil  sought  to  be  remedied  have  induced  me 
to  vary  from  my  more  usual  course  of  keeping  silence  in  this  Chamber. 
Nor  would  I  now  depart  from  my  customary  course  were  it  not  for  the 
fact  that  the  Pacific  States  and  Territories  are,  more  than  any  portion 
of  our  country,  the  theater  upon  which  this  new  evil,  dangerous,  threat 
ening,  imminent  as  it  is,  as  I  believe,  to  our  moral,  social,  and  political 
structure,  is  exhibited  in  all  its  loathsome  features  and  degrading  ten 
dencies.  Perhaps,  Mr.  President,  no  question  of  graver  import  could 
be  presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  American  Senate  than  that 
involved  in  the  general  subject  of  Chinese  immigration  arid  the  results 
it  must  necessarily  have  upon  our  civilization.  It  is  a  question,  to  my 
mind,  that  the  Congress  of  the  nation  cannot  evade  if  it  would,  and 
one  that  it  cannot  afford  to  ignore  if,  by  any  possibility,  it  could. 

The  evil,  Mr.  President,  which  this  sudden  and  alarming  influx  of 
the  Mongolian  race  is  casting  upon  our  common  country  is  one  which 
to  my  mind,  which  to  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
menaces  to-day  the  stability  and  purity  of  our  moral  peace,  the  integ 
rity  of  our  social  and  political  structure,  and  jeopardizes  and  disturbs 
the  civilization  of  our  age.  And,  sir.  as  the  offal  of  the  slaughter-house 


and  the  putrescence  of  the  cess-pool  will  the  more  readily  and  the 
more  completely  impart  impurity  and  general  pollution  to  the  small 
stream  near  the  mountain-side  than  to  the  deep,  broad  river  on  nearer 
to  the  sea,  so  will  communities  that  are  new,  sparse  in  numbers,  weak 
comparatively  by  reason  of  their  infancy,  like  those  of  the  Pacific 
States  and  Territories,  be  more  likely  to  be  trampled  down,  corrupted, 
and  defiled  by  this  species  of  immigration  than  will  be  those  commu 
nities  that  are  older  and  more  firmly  established,  like  those  that  exist 
on  the  Atlantic  coast. 

Standing,  therefore,  in  their  infancy,  comparatively,  as  do  the  peo 
ple  of  the  North  Pacific  coast,  face  to  face  with  a  population  of  over 
four  hundred  million  people,  in  the  very  gateway,  if  you  please,  of 
the  Chinese  empire,  of  a  people  the  dregs  and  the  debased  of  whom 
are  by  the  thousands  upon  thousands  to-day  flooding  our  country,  is 
it  at  all  strange  that  this  people  should  appeal  to  the  Congress  of  the 
nation  in  terms  of  more  than  ordinary  earnestness  for  some  measure 
of  relief  against  this  great  evil  ? 

It  would  be  useless  for  me,  after  the  very  able  argument  of  the 
honorable  Senator  from  California,  in  which  he  elaborated  truthfully 
the  evils  of  Chinese  immigration  upon  the  Pacific  coast,  to  detain  the 
Senate  for  any  great  length  of  time  in  any  attempts  on  my  part  to 
add,  or  attempt  to  add,  either  to  the  verity  or  the  loathsome  character 
of  the  picture  so  truthfully  and  so  vividly  drawn  by  him.  He  has 
stripped  of  its  bandages  this  festering  sore  which,  like  a  plague-spot, 
has  fastened  itself  upon  the  very  vitals  of  our  western  civilization 
and  which  to-day  threatens  to  destroy  it.  And,  Mr.  President,  almost 
at  the  expense  on  his  part  of  a  violation  of  the  conventionalities  of 
speech  in  reference  to  delicacy  in  the  use  of  terms  in  this  presence, 
lie  has  presented  this  sore  to  the  gaze  of  the  Senate,  the  country,  and 
the  world,  in  all  its  sickening  putrefaction  and  contaminating  touch. 
He  has  arrayed  before  you  witnesses  from  the  courts,  from  the  prisons, 
from  the  almshouses,  from  boards  of  trade,  from  chambers  of  com 
merce,  from  city,  county,  and  State  authorities,  and  from  private 
citizens  as  well,  whose  concurrent  testimony  establishes  beyond  the 
possibility  of  successful  contradiction  the  alarming  facts,  that  the 
effect  of  Chinese  immigration  upon  the  Pacific  coast  is  to  degrade  the 
industry  of  the  country,  to  subordinate  the  labor  of  the  honest,  hard 
working,  free  American  citizen  to  that  of  the  dishonest,  servile  legions 
of  a  rice-eating  and  heathen  race  ;  to  establish  within  our  borders  a 
system  of  serfdom  equal  to,  and,  I  think  I  may  say  with  safety,  infi 
nitely  worse  in  some  respects,  than  any  that  has  ever  heretofore  cursed 
our  country  with  its  iniquity ;  to  debauch  and  defile  our  youth  ;  to  cor 
rupt  the  channels  of  trade ;  to  set  upon  the  face  of  our  beautiful 
cities  the  degrading  seal,  the  disgusting  impress  of  Asiatic  life  and 
manners;  in  a  word,  to  contaminate  and  blast  our  civilization  with 
the  degrading  tendencies  of  a  people  numbering  nearly,  if  not  alto 
gether,  one-half  the  entire  population  of  the  globe  ;  a  people  whose 
history,  customs,  habits,  modes  of  life,  and  aspirations  have  for  ages, 
and  must  of  necessity  continue  to  be  for  centuries  yet  to  come,  sur 
rounded  in  the  shades  and  consequent  darkness  of  heathenism. 

O,  but  says  one,  even  admitting  our  physical  power  to  inhibit  this 
class  of  immigration  to  our  country,  yet  upon  the  broad  principles  of 
humanitarianism,  on  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of  expatriation,  our 
doors  should  not  be  closed.  No,  say  they,  not  even  against  the  crim 
inal  heathen  of  the  nations ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  this  asylum  of  ours, 
of  which  we  are  all  so  proud  to  speak,  and  the  more  especially  in  this 
centennial  year,  should,  like  the  gates  of  gospel  grace,  stand  forever 


5 

open  niglit  and  day  to  all  people,  of  all  lands  and  creeds  and  tongues 
and  customs  and  habits  and  dispositions  and  aspirations,  and  of  all 
virtues  and  vices  as  well. 

This,  Mr.  President,  is  all  very  fine,  and  in  sentiment  and  theory  may 
be  all  very  well ;  and  I  concede,  as  a  general  rule,  with  exceptions  per 
haps  as  to  criminals  and  paupers,  it  may  with  safety  to  our  institutions 
be  applied  to  the  Christian  nations  of  the  world.  But  it  does  seem  to 
me  that  the  people  of  America,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  should 
have  some  regard  for  themselves,  and  while  they  are  willing  that  the 
light  of  our  civilization  should  be  diffused  among  the  millions,  that 
the  humanizing  and  Christianizing  influences  of  our  institutions  should 
be  extended  to  all  lands  and  among  all  peoples,  yet  at  the  same  time 
we  do  absolutely  owe  something  to  ourselves  ;  and  the  question  here 
presents  itself  whether  our  civilization,  pure,  ennobling,  strong,  pow 
erful,  and  good  as  it  is  to-day,  can  afford  to  stand  the  corruptions  and 
the  deadly  vices  that  must  necessarily  result  to  it  from  flooding  our 
land  with  a  nation  of  criminal,  debased,  and  debasing  slaves;  whether 
we  can  afford  that  our  land  should  be  overrun  and  our  institutions 
permeated  with  the  influence  of  a  pagan  people,  uneducated,  as  a  rule, 
save  in  the  worst  vices  of  a  dark  age,  a  people  schooled  in  a  forum 
presided  over  by  neither  God  nor  conscience,  guided  and  controlled 
in  their  course  of  conduct  only  by  the  gratification  of  their  lusts,  re 
strained  solely  by  a  cruel  superstition,  which  in  most  cases  transforms 
the  most  infamous  crimes  into  the  fancied  virtues  of  their  race,  such 
as  the  abandonment  of  their  young,  their  sick,  their  aged,  their  de 
crepit,  their  dying,  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  elements ;  a  people 
that  never  have  been  and  never  can  become  attached  to  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  nor  be  well  disposed  to 
ward  the  peace  and  good  order  of  our  country ;  a  people  whose  relig 
ion  is  pagan,  and  whose  god  an  idol,  whose  element  of  warfare  against 
decent,  respectable  society  is  that  irrepressible  stench  that  inevitably 
arises  from  the  dens  and  caverns  in  which  they  in  our  cities  do  con 
gregate  more  like  unreasoning  beasts  than  reasoning  men.  The  ques 
tion  is  whether  we  can  afford  to  submit  our  civilization  and  our  insti 
tutions  to  all  the  untold  horrors  that  must  necessarily  result  to  us  and 
our  posterity,  to  the  peace,  the  good  order,  the  general  welfare,  the 
tranquillity  of  our  country,  by  planting  in  our  midst  a  people  such  as 
this  ?  Can  we  afford,  in  justice  to  the  poor,  hard-working,  toiling 
millions  of  the  land,  men  and  women,  who  earn  for  themselves  and 
their  families  their  daily  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  faces,  to  see  their 
means  of  subsistence  filched  from  them  by  a  species  of  serfdom,  by  a 
slavery,  if  you  please,  the  very  counterpart  of  which,  in  years  not  long 
gone  by,  evolved  an  issue  in  this  country  which  drenched  our  land  in 
blood  ? 

The  question  presented,  Mr.  President,  is  not  an  old  one.  As  stated  in 
an  article  recently  published  in  the  New  York  Nation,  and  referred  to  by 
the  honorable  Senator  from  California  in  his  speech  the  other  day — 

California — 

And  the  editor  might  have  added  the  whole  Pacific  Coast — 
is  the  only  American  community  and,  in  fact,  the  only  western  community  from 
the  beginning  of  history  which  'has  had  any  experience  of  the  actual  effect  of  a 
Chinese  immigration.  The  immigration  from  which  we  in  the  Eastern  States  are 
obliged  to  draw  all  our  inferences  as  to  the  'probable  effect  of  such  an  experiment 
has  been  from  countries  which  are  allied  to  our  own  by  race,  language,  religion, 
or  customs ;  and  the  few  Chinese  whose  acquaintance  we  have  made  have  oeen 
chiefly  objects  of  curiosity  to  us.  To  California  they  have  come  in  numbers,  and, 
speaking  a  different  language,  worshiping  unknown  gods,  keeping  alive  imported 
customs  and  traditions,  they  form  almost  a  separate  caste.  Now  such  a  state  of 


affairs  is,  under  our  system  of  government,  very  difficult  to  deal  with.  In  mediae 
val  times  it  would  have  been  simple  enough,  because  laws  and  customs  would  have 
arisen  based  on  the  inferiority  of  one  race  and  the  superiority  of  the  other. 

The  question  then,  Mr.  President,  is  a  new  one,  and  it  is  as  difficult, 
c  implicated,  and  intricate  as  it  is  new.  It  is  not  a  question  as  to  obli 
gation,  or  duty,  or  power  with  reference  to  our  attitude  toward  or 
our  dealing  with  those  inferior  races  and  classes  of  people  which 
from  time  immemorial,  from  the  earliest  period  of  our  country's  his 
tory,  have  formed  a  part  and  parcel  of  our  population.  From  those, 
under  the  judicious  management  and  guidance  of  our  Government 
and  our  people,  our  civilization  has  nothing  to  fear ;  while  in  fact  the 
attitude  of  our  Government  in  that  direction  in  years  but  recently 
passed  has  brought  new  stars  to  the  crown  of  our  civilization.  The 
question  of  dealing  with  those  born  on  our  own  soil,  and  with  those 
who  from  the  Christian  nations  of  the  world  seek  an  asylum,  a  home 
here,  is  one  thing ;  while  throwing  wide  our  doors  to  the  vassals,  the 
criminals,  the  lepers,  and  the  debased  of  the  Asiatic  countries  of  the 
world  is  quite  another  and  a  very  different  thing.  And  the  very  fact 
that  a  large  part  of  our  population,  of  those  who  shape  and  control 
its  legislation,  State  and  Federal,  once  bore  allegiance  to  some  of  the 
Christian  European  powers,  tends  to  a  feeling  of  international  unity 
and  adds  to  our  peace,  our  commercial  and  political  prosperity  among 
the  nations  of  the  world. 

Since  the  beginning  of  our  history  no  such  question  has  been  forced 
upon  us ;  and  can  we,  upon  the  ground  of  humanity,  upon  any  prin 
ciple  of  world-wide  patriotism,  on  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of  ex 
patriation,  on  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  upon  any  of 
these  or  upon  all  of  these  combined,  afford  to  have  our  land  deluged 
by  the  dregs  of  the  Mongolian  race  ?  A  race  which,  according  to  the 
well-selected  language  of  the  "  Nation"  to  which  I  have  attracted  at 
tention,  "  speak  a  different  language,  worship  unknown  gods,  keep 
alive  imported  customs  and  traditions,  and  form  almost  a  separate 
caste." 

I  know  that  their  influx  into  this  country  will  widen  the  field  of  the 
missionary  within  our  own  bounds.  I  know  that  so  long  as  they  are 
permitted  to  come  some  of  their  number,  but  the  very  fewest,  will  be 
lifted  from  the  depths  of  their  degradation,  and  through  the  commend 
able  efforts  of  Christian  men  and  Christian  women  be  placed  upon 
the  higher  and  broader  and  better  plane  of  American  civilization  and 
of  Christianity.  But  will  even  this,  either  in  a  moral  or  Christian 
point  of  view,  compensate  for  the  pestilence,  the  moral,  social,  politi 
cal  pestilence  with  which  the  countless  thousands  that  will  come, 
and  who  are  necessarily  unreclaimed,  will  infect  the  present  and  fu 
ture  generations  of  our  people  ?  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  value  of 
an  influence  that  will  result  in  lifting  even  one  soul  from  the  depths 
of  heathenism ;  but,  much  as  that  influence  is  to  be  valued,  it  is  no 
more  to  be  prized  than  is  to  be  deplored  that  other  influence  which 
will  result  in  leading  even  a  solitary  American  youth  away  from  the 
traditions  of  his  fathers  and  the  influence  of  his  country  down  to  the 
doors  of  moral  death  and  to  a  grave  of  infamy  and  disgrace. 

But,  Mr.  President,  it  is  said  there  is  no  danger,  after  all ;  but  few 
will  come,  and  there  is  no  reason  for  alarm.  Let  me  say  that  in  my 
judgment  the  man  who  believes  this,  the  statesman  who  acts  upon 
this  to-day,  will  be  like  certain  men  we  read  of  who  believe  a  lie  and 
are  damned.  Asia  can  spare  fifty  million  and  scarcely  miss  them 
from  her  shores,  and  they  are  coming.  Already  the  tide  of  immigra 
tion  has  set  in  across  the  w^aters  of  the  Pacific,  and  to-day  they  are 


coining  by  the  thousand  into  the  ports  of  California  and  Oregon  and 
Washington  Territory,  and  all  the  other  ports  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
bringing  with  them — what  ?  Intelligence,  wealth,  virtue  ?  Not  much, 
but  rather  ignorance,  and  poverty,  and  crime,  pestilence,  moral,  social, 
political,  in  their  most  alarming  and  dreaded  forms. 

A  reference  to  a  few  arrivals  of  steamers  recently  on  the  Pacific 
coast  will  give  some  idea  in  regard  to  the  alarming  character  of  this 
immigration  at  the  present  time.  In  a  dispatch  from  San  Francisco, 
April  16, 1  read : 

The  British  steamer  Crocus  arrived  to-day  from  Hong-Kong  via  Yokohama,  with 
rice  and  eight  hundred  and  eighty-two  Chinamen.  She  reports  two  other  British 
steamers  there  up  for  this  port. 

Three  days  after  we  have  another  dispatch  dated  April  19,  1876, 
which  says : 

The  Pacific  Mail  steamship  Great  Republic  arrived  in  this  port  from  China  yes 
terday  morning  after  a  smooth  passage  of  twenty-four  days.  She  had  on  board  one 
thousand  and  seventy-five  Chinese,  having  lost  one  through  suicide.  The  Great 
Republic  reports  the  Belgic  to  follow  with  about  six  hundred  Chinese.  She  also 
reports  leaving  the  Quang  Se  ready  for  a  shipment  of  coolies.  The  officers  of  the 
Great  Republic  say  that  all  steamers  from  China  for  the  next  four  months  will  be 
crowded  with  coolies.  " 

So  we  see  that  in  a  short  space  of  three  days  we  have  two  thou 
sand  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  Chinese  arriving  in  the  port  of  San 
Francisco  alone,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  for  the  past  num 
ber  of  months  and  to-day  they  are  arriving  in  San  Francisco  alone  at 
the  rate  of  from  a  thousand  to  twelve  hundred  per  week  ;  from  four 
to  five  thousand  per  month ;  at  the  rate  of  sixty  thousand  a  year. 
The  man  who  imagines  that  this  flood  will  not  increase  in  volume 
and  in  power  so  long  as  our  gates  are  open,  until  we  have  an  imperium 
in  imperio,  an  Asiatic  government  within  our  own  founded  upon  the 
worst  elements  of  human  depravity,  mistakes  in  my  judgment  the 
signs  of  the  times,  and  fails  to  correctly  trace  the  inevitable  logic  of 
events. 

But,  sir,  what  is  the  remedy  for  this  evil?  Is  there  any  remedy,  I 
ask,  that  can  be  applied  with  complete  effect  to  this  great,  this  new 
evil  short  of  that  of  absolute  prohibition  of  the  Chinese  immigration? 
I  believe  that  there  is  not ;  and,  until  this  is  done,  all  the  efforts  that 
may  be  devised  by  the  brains  of  the  wisest  statesmen  intended  to 
regulate  this  species  of  immigration  will  stand  a  dead  letter  on  the 
statute-book.  A  law  which  cannot  be  enforced  by  reason  of  the  pecu 
liar  circumstances  surrounding  its  violation  is  as  no  law  at  all ;  and 
in  the  mean  time  the  evil  intended  to  be  interdicted  goes  on  with 
giant  strides,  boldly  and  defiantly.  And  such,  let  me  say  to  the  Sen 
ate,  is  the  present  condition  of  our  congressional  legislation  on  the 
subject  of  prohibiting  the  importation  of  coolies  and  of  women  for 
immoral  practices.  Why,  sir,  the  whole  of  the  present  Chinese  pop 
ulation  of  our  country,  with  the  exception  of  a  mere  fraction,  is  com 
posed  of  these  two  classes ;  and  therefore,  to  this  very  large  extent, 
is  the  present  immigration  from  China  in  direct  violation  of  law.  But, 
notwithstanding  this,  on  account  of  the  unrestrained  fraud,  the  black 
perjury,  the  subtle  chicanery,  the  dark-eyed  conspiracy  peculiar  to 
this  class  of  people,  and  for  which  those  who  engage  in  this  nefarious 
business  are  notorious,  conviction  is  simply  impossible.  The  remedy, 
therefore,  in  my  judgment,  that  is,  the  complete  remedy,  is  in  a  large 
limitation  upon,  or  an  absolute  abrogation  of,  the  right  of  the  Chinese 
subject  both  to  expatriation  and  immigration,  in  so  far  as  our  country 
is  concerned. 

But  here  we  are  met  with  the  objection  again  that  this  is  a  favored 


8 

doctrine  of  our  Government,  and  especially  with  the  present  Admin 
istration  and  the  republican  party,  and  that  it  was  incorporated  in 
terms  by  this  Administration  in  the  Burlingame  treaty.  This  is  all 
very  true,  and,  as  a  general  rule,  I  contend  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
right  of  the  subject  of  any  civilized  European  country  to  abjure  his 
allegiance  to  his  own  government  and  better  his  political  fortunes  by 
attaching  them  to  another  government  is  one  that  ought  to  be  upheld 
by  the  civilized  world,  one  that  should  receive  the  approbation  of 
mankind ;  and  especially  should  intelligent,  free  America  extend  this 
doctrine  to  the  civilized  governments  of  Europe,  and  not  only  extend 
it  to  them  but  insist  upon  it  with  reference  to  all  such  governments 
whose  subjects— either  in  large  or  small  numbers— may  desire  to  bet 
ter  their  political  condition  by  seeking  a  home  and  asylum  in  our 
country,  by  becoming  citizens  of  our  Republic,  and  thus  availing 
themselves  of  the  superior  immunities  from  political  oppression 
afforded  by  our  peculiar  form  of  government. 

But,  Mr.  President,  there  are  nations,  in  my  judgment,  that  are  ex 
ceptions  to  this  rule,  and  if  they  do  come  technically  within  the  rule, 
as  no  possible  good  can  come  to  the  subject,  nor  to  our  own  country, 
but  on  the  contrary  an  infinitude  of  harm,  then  I  cpntend  they  should 
mark  the  exception,  and  thus  add  stability  and  force  and  power  and 
strength  to  the  rule  itself. 

Let  us  look  at  this  rule  for  a  moment  and  at  the  exception,  because 
I  claim  that  there  is  an  exception,  and  that  it  is  in  this  case.  We  go- 
down  then  into  the  depths  of  Asia,  among  the  Chinese  of  China,  if 
you  please;  we  look  upon  that  strange  people,  the  history  of  whose 
imperialism  runs  back  into  the  ages,  yes,  even  so  far  back  that  the 
penetrating  eye  of  the  nineteenth  century  fails  to  trace  its  origin  in 
the  shades  of  departed  time ;  and  we  ask  of  them,  "  Do  you  desire 
a  change  in  your  government  ?  "  and  they  answer,  "  No."  We  then 
say  to  them,  "  Do  you,  as  individuals,  desire  to  better  your  political 
condition ;  do  you  desire  to  abjure  your  allegiance  to  imperial  power: 
do  you  desire  to  attach  your  allegiance  to  our  institutions,  to  our 
country  ;  do  you  desire  to  become  citizens  and  sovereigns  in  Amer 
ica  ?  "  and  they  again  answer, "  No ! "  emphatically,  "  No ! "  They  will 
say  to  you  in  their  broken  tongue,  "  Me  no  likee  Melican  man ;  me  no 
sabe  Melican  Government."  And  then  we  go  to  the  better  classes  of 
the  people  of  that  country,  and  say  to  them — I  refer  now  to  men  en 
gaged  in  commerce,  in  agriculture,  in  manufactures,  we  go  to  the 
merchant,  the  manufacturer,  the  artisan,  and  the  professional  man, 
to  the  better  classes,  if  you  please,  of  China  and  of  Asia  generally — 
and  we  say  to  them,  "  Do  you  desire  to  change  your  domicile  across 
the  water?  Do  you  desire  to  establish  yourselves  firmly  in  business 
in  America,  there  to  better,  if  you  please,  your  political  and  your 
personal  condition,  there  to  add  intelligence,  wealth,  and  power 
to  our  institutions  and  government,  there  to  live  and  there  to 
die  ?  "  and  you  will  be  again  met  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  with  a  neg 
ative  answer.  But  there  is  another  class — I  refer  to  men  who  traffic 
in  human  flesh  and  female  virtue;  who  subsist  on  the  fruits  of 
crime ;  whose  history,  from  its  birth,  is  marked  with  treason  against 
morality,  and  peace,  and  law,  and  order,  and  good  government,  and 
these,  and' these  alone,  are  the  men  of  the  empire  who  have  their  eyes 
on  America,  and  through  their  influence  and  their  machinations  our 
shores  on  the  Pacific  coast — you^may  not  feel  it  here,  but  our  shores, 
the  golden  shores  of  the  Pacific  are  to-day  being  flooded  with  the 
serfs,  the  criminals,  the  mendicants,  the  opium-eating  gamblers,  the 
leprous  prostitutes,  the  most  debased,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  of 
the  Chinese  Empire. 


9 

To  permit  this,  when  no  possible  good  can  come  to  the  Chinese  sub 
ject,  as  I  have  already  shown,  and  when,  instead  of  adding  to  the  in 
telligence,  the  wealth,  the  prosperity,  the  dignity  of  our  country,  it 
but  brings  poverty,  and  disease,  and  pestilence,  and  crime,  simply  out 
of  a  desire  on  our  part  to  adhere  to  a  principle,  is,  to  my  mind,  to  sub 
ordinate  the  truest  and  best  interests  of  this  Government,  the  general 
welfare,  and  the  domestic  tranquillity,  to  the  vindication  of  a  mere 
idea  in  political  ethics.  It  is  one,  in  my  judgment,  that  cannot  be 
sustained  for  one  solitary  moment  by  any  element  of  true  statesman 
ship  ;  and,  sir,  if  it  is  persisted  in,  I  predict  here  and  now  that  the 
people  of  the  next  centennial,  if  not  of  the  next  generation,  will  eat 
of  its  bitter  fruits  and  drink  of  its  poisoned  waters. 

Mr.  MERRIMON.    May  I  ask  the  Senator  a  question  ? 

Mr.  MITCHELL.    Certainly. 

Mr.  MERRIMON.  I  ask  whether  any  portion  of  the  Chinese  on  our 
western  shores  are  naturalized ;  and,  if  so,  do  they  belong  to  the  vot 
ing  population  of  California  and  Oregon  ? 

Mr.  MITCHELL.  They  are  not  naturalized ;  and  not  only  that,, 
but  they  do  not  desire  to  be  naturalized ;  and  that  is  the  very  point 
I  have  been  trying  to  make,  that  the  country  from  which  they  come 
is  an  exception  to  the  nations  of  the  world  to  which  the  doctrine  of 
the  right  of  expatriation  ought  to  be  extended  by  our  country. 

Mr.  MERRIMON.  Suppose  they  are  content  to  be  naturalized  and 
our  people  are  content  that  they  shall  be  and  become  voters  among 
them? 

Mr.  MITCHELL.  That  is  simply  supposing  a  case  that  never  will 
occur,  as  I  have  been  endeavoring  to  show.  I  have  been  endeavoring 
to  show  that  all  their  inclinations  and  aspirations  and  dispositions- 
are  in  the  other  direction.  They  do  not  desire  either  a  change  of  gov 
ernment  in  their  own  country  or  a  transfer  of  their  allegiance  to  this. 

Mr.  SARGENT.  If  my  friend  will  allow  me,  I  will  say  that  the  people 
of  the  Pacific  coast  do  not  wish  them  to  be  naturalized.  Naturaliza 
tion  would  only  add  to  the  mischiefs.  Put  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of 
the  sixty  thousand  Chinese  in  California,  and  they  would  be  mar 
shalled  in  squads  at  the  polls  by  their  masters,  the  six  companies,, 
with  ballots  prepared  beforehand  and  dictated  to  them,  and  the  in 
fluence  of  white  men  in  the  government  of  California  would  soon 
cease  to  exist.  California  would  be  a  mere  Asiatic  province. 

Mr.  MITCHELL.  This  is  unquestionably  true,  and  the  same  thing 
applies  in  relation  to  the  State  of  Oregon.  The  whole  immigration 
is  not  a  voluntary  one ;  it  is  controlled,  as  stated  by  the  Sena 
tor  from  California,  by  these  six  companies,  by  these  masters,  if  you 
please,  in  whose  control  and  under  whose  subjection  is  evety  Chinese, 
male  and  female,  that  comes  from  the  Empire  to  our  shores ;  and,  as 
stated,  the  ballot  in  their  hands  would  but  add  to  the  horrors  of  the 
situation. 

But,  Mr.  President,  can  the  Congress  of  the  nation,  in  the  face  of 
the  Bur lin game  treaty,  provide  a  remedy  constitutionally  or  consist 
ently  equal  to  the  magnitude  of  this  great  evil  ?  Perhaps  they  can* 
Perhaps  they  may  upon  the  ground  that,  I  understand,  has  been  de 
cided  more  than  once  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  to 
the  effect  that,  although  a  treaty  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  yet 
an  act  of  Congress  passed  subsequently  to  the  date  when  the  treaty 
went  into  operation  will,  so  far  as  it  conflicts  with  the  provisions  of 
the  treaty,  abrogate  it  or  suspend  its  functions.  Whatever  may  be 
pur  power  in  this  respect — and  I  concede  that,  if  we  have  the  power, 
it  is  one  that  should  be  approached  with  care  and  with  great  can- 


10 

tion — it  is  certain  that  we  have  the  power  to  appeal  to  the  Executive 
*of  the  nation,  and  ask  of  him  and  of  our  Secretary  of  State  to  enter 
into  negotiations  with  the  Chinese  government  looking  to  a  reforma 
tion  of  the  treaty ;  and  this,  in  my  judgment,  after  all,  is  the  real 
remedy  that  ought  to  be  applied  in  this  case. 

While  I  have  said  that  I  would  approach  with  extreme  caution  any 
legislation  by  Congress  upon  this  subject  that  would  come  in  con 
flict  with  any  existing  treaty  stipulation,  still  I  will  say  that,  if  it  is 
apparent  to  the  country  that  the  civilization  of  our  land  is  in  jeop 
ardy,  that  our  institutions  are  in  imminent  danger  from  this  species 
of  immigration,  and  you  cannot  reach  it  in  any  other  way,  then  I 
would  apply  the  remedy,  desperate  as  it  is,  although  it  shake  the  em 
pire  to  its  foundations. 

I  hope  then,  Mr.  President,  to  see  the  pending  resolution  adopted  by 
this  honorable  body,  and  adopted  at  an  early  day.  It  is  demanded  by 
every  consideration  of  humanity;  it  is  demanded  as  a  matter  of  jus 
tice  to  the  poor,  toiling,  hard-working  men  and  women  of  the  Pacific 
coast  who  by  the  wages  resulting  from  their  daily  toil,  which  at  best 
is  but  meager,  support  themselves  and  their  families,  and  whose  labor 
to-day  is  being  brought  into  direct  and  dangerous  competition  with 
the  labor  of  Chinese  serfs,  whose  food  and  raiment  and  other  neces 
saries  cost,  under  their  peculiar  modes  of  life,  but  little  or  nothing. 
Without  families  to  support,  their  masters  can  afford  to  work  them 
at  rates  far  below  those  that  are  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain 
one  of  our  own  citizens  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  his  family. 

But,  Mr.  President,  it  is  demanded  also  by  the  merchant  and  the 
manufacturer,  who  in  many  instances  on  our  coast  are  unable  to  com 
pete  in  their  productions  with  prices  regulated  by  cooly  labor,  and 
who  are,  therefore,  necessarily  compelled  to  close  their  stores  and  shut 
up  their  shops.  But,  above  all,  it  is  demanded  by  the  highest  con 
siderations  of  justice  and  right  that  can  possibly  attach  to  the  Ameri 
can  name  or  direct  the  destiny  of  the  American  people. 

And  here,  Mr.  President,  let  me  read  for  a  moment — and  I  will  de 
tain  the  Senate  but  a  very  few  minutes  longer— a  dispatch  of  May  1 
from  Antioch,  California,  which  reads  as  follows : 

ANTIOCH,  CALIFORNIA,  May  1. 

A  fire  occurred  here  which  was  the  culmination  of  an  excitement  that  has  been 
growing  since  last  Saturday,  when  one  of  the  doctors  informed  various  parties  that, 
several  boys  had  visited  a  Chinese  house  of  prostitution  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
town  and  were  now,  in  consequence,  under  his  treatment.  In  a  short  time  their 
parents  heard  of  it  and  extreme  measures  were  talked  of,  but  better  counsel  pre 
vailed.  On  Saturday  morning  thirty-five  or  forty  citizens  proceeded  to  the  Chinese 
dens  and  notified  them  to  leave  town  before  three  o'clock,  or  trouble  would  ensue. 
This  all  promised  to  do,  and  several  of  them  started  up  the  river  in  a  sail-boat  for 
Stockton  and  others  taking  the  steamer  for  San  Francisco.  Among  the  latter  was 
one  woman  who  was  nearly  gone  with  disease.  A  boss  Chinaman  was  sent  with 
them,  but  much  against  his  will,  it  requiring  the  efforts  of  two  men  to  get  him  on 
the  boat.  It  being  supposed  that  the  women  had  teft  for  good,  the  excitement  sub 
sided.  However,  on  Sunday  afternoon,  it  was  reported  that  the  women  who  had 
started  for  Stockton  had  returned,  which  revived  the  excitement  of  Saturday,  but 
nothing  occurred  to  disturb  the  serenity  of  the  Sabbath  until  about  eight  p.  m., 
when  a  cry  of  fire  was  raised,  and  it  was  soon  apparent  that  action  had  been  taken. 
Chinatown  was  on  fire,  and  a  crowd  of  curious  lookers-Ota  assembled,  together  with 
the  fire  company,  but  little  was  done  to  stay  the  progress  of  the  fire,  and  all  but 
two  of  the  buil'dings  were  destroyed— the  inmates  fleeing  terror-stricken.  How 
the  fire  was  started,  no  one  knows.  To-day  the  remaining  buildings  have  been  re 
moved,  and  Antioch  is  now  free  from  this  degraded  class. 

Again,  a  San  Francisco  dispatch  to  the  eastern  papers  says : 

•  SAN  FRANCISCO,  May  3,  1876. 

The  South  San  Francisco  Anti-Cooly  Club  and  the  Young  Men's  Universal  Ee- 
-form  Society  held  meetings  last  night  and  passed  resolutions  indorsing  the  de- 


•   11 

-struction  of  the  Chinese  quarters  in  the  town  of  Antioch,  and  advocating  a  similar 
course  in  this  city  unless  the  Federal  Government  should  take  immediate  steps  to 
abate  the  evil  of  Chinese  immigration.  Highly  incendiary  speeches  were  made 
•and  letters  read  from  societies  in  the  interior  of  'the  State  seeking  the  co-operation 
of  San  Francisco  anti-cooly  organizations.  The  sergeant-at-arms  of  the  Young 
Men's  Universal  Reform  Society  announced  that  he  had  received  a  telegram  from 
Kew  York  saying  that  twenty-six  hundred  stand  of  arms  could  be  delivered  here 
at  ten  days'  notice. 

"While  such  talk  and  action  are  universally  reprobated  by  the  great  mass  of 
thinking  people  in  this  city,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  meets  the  approval  of  a 
large  and  dangerous  class  in  the  community,  and  that,  in  the  event  of  no  action 
'b  ding  taken  in  the  matter  by  the  General  Government,  there  is  grave  reason  to 
fear  serious  disturbances  here  at  no  distant  day. 

Now  then,  Mr.  President,  while  that  spirit  of  mobocracy  which 
Bometimes  invades  the  domain  of  law  and  order  should  be  condemned 
by  all  good  citizens  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances  and  at 
all  places,  still  when  these  things  do  occur,  whether  from  real  or  im 
aginary  causes,  I  contend,  as  did  the  Senator  from  California  the  other 
day,  that  it  is  the  duty,  the  bounden  duty  of  the  Government  to  in 
quire  into  the  cause  of  discontent,  and  if  it  is  found  that  any  real 
cause  exists,  then  to  apply  the  remedy  by  abating  the  cause. 

The  sentiment  of  the  people  of  the  Pacific  coast  is,  universally  I 
may  say,  opposed  to  further  Chinese  immigration.  This  is  the  view 
of  everybody,  of  all  political  parties.  It  is  not  a  party  question.  But 
while  this  is  so,  they,  as  a  rule,  are  a  law-abiding  people,  and  they 
recognize  the  fact  that  the  Chinese  that  are  absolutely  here  are  here 
in  virtue  of  treaty  stipulation ;  that  they,  therefore,  are  rightfully 
here ;  and  that  being  here,  they  are  in  all  their  civil  rights  entitled 
to  the  equal  protection  of  the  law.  If  there  are  any  others— and  I 
must  confess  there  are  a  few  on  our  Pacific  coast — who  do  not  recog 
nize  these  facts,  and  who  counsel  a  resort  to  violence,  they  do  but 
paralyze  the  arms  of  the  real  reformer  at  home,  in  the  East,  through 
out  the  country,  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  everywhere  else. 
They  trample  upon  law  and  order.  They  excite  to  anarchy  and  con 
fusion.  They  fan  the  flame  of  prejudice  and  discord  j  and  so  far  from 
removing  the  cause  of  the  discontent  by  such  a  course  of  action, 
they  do  but  rear  formidable  impediments  in  the  only  legitimate  way 
in  which  the  evil  can  be  corrected. 

I  then,  Mr.  President,  in  conclusion  appeal  to  the  Senate;  I  join 
my  friend  from  California  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  Pacific  coast 
in  appealing  to  the  Senate,  and  the  Congress,  and  the  President, 
and  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  to  the  whole  people,  to  all  men  and 
all  women  everywhere  throughout  this  land  who  love  their  country, 
who  have  a  pride  in  its  progress,  in  its  civilization,  and  a  high  hope 
for  its  future  destiny,  to  come  now  to  the  rescue  and  crush  out  in  its 
infancy  this  viper  that,  if  permitted  to  live  and  grow,  will  at  last  and 
at  no  distant  future  gnaw  with  deadening  effect  at  the  very  vitals  of 
the  civilization  of  this  country. 

Mr.  SARGENT.  I  ask  that  the  bill  (S.  No.  829)  to  restrict  the  im 
migration  of  Chinese  to  the  United  States,  which  I  introduced  yes 
terday,  be  now  ordered  to  be  printed  and  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Commerce,  allowing  this  resolution  to  lie  on  the  table  for  the 
present. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  That  order  will  be  made.  The  res 
olution  will  lie  on  the  table. 

Mr.  CONKLING.  Not  without  the  consent  of  the  Senator  from  Cal 
ifornia,  I  suggest  that  the  bill  just  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Com 
merce  more  appropriately  belongs  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Re 
lations.  I  move  therefore  that  the  reference  be  changed,  the  Senator 
.from  California  having  no  objection. 


12 

Mr.  EDMUNDS.  I  should  have  some  question  about  that.  I  think 
that  this  matter,  in  accordance  with  the  views  expressed  by  the  Su 
preme  Court  and  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution,  belongs  to  the 
subject  of  commerce,  and. that  whatever  regulations  are  to  be  made 
upon  the  subject  must  be  made  as  regulations  of  commerce.  I  do  not 
know  the  precise  phraseology  of  the  bill,  exactly  what  it  purports  to 
do. 

Mr.  SARGENT.  The  bill  in  effect  limits  the  number  of  Chinese 
who  may  be  imported  in  any  one  year. 

Mr.  EDMUNDS.  That  is  purely  a  regulation  of  commerce,  and  I 
submit  to  my  honorable  friend  from  New  York  that  the  committee  of 
which  he  is  the  chairman  is  the  appropriate  committee  to  consider  a 
question  of  that  kind. 

Mr.  CONKLING.  I  made  a  mistake  in  not  consulting  my  honor 
able  friend  from  Vermont,  instead  of  consulting  the  mover  of  this 
bill,  in  order  to  get  consent  to  move  in  the  Senate  that  it  should  take 
what  seems  to  me  its  appropriate  reference.  Doubtless,  if  I  had  made 
to  the  Senator  from  Vermont  the  suggestions  which  I  think  I  could 
make  now  to  the  Senate,  he  would  have  seen  some  reasons  which  are 
not  covered  by  the  remarks  he  has  made ;  but  speaking  to  the  Sena 
tor  who  moved  the  bill,  and  finding  that  he  concurred  with  me,  I 
made  the  suggestion  at  once.  Without  going  into  the  reasons  gener 
ally,  I  will  assign  one. 

The  proceeding  against  which  this  bill  is  aimed  is  of  course  more 
or  less  in  consequence  of,  if  not  by  virtue  of,  a  treaty,  as  all  those 
who  have  listened  to  the  very  interesting  and  able  speech  made  by 
the  Senator  from  Oregon  have  perceived,  if  their  attention  has  not 
been  drawn  to  that  before.  In  dealing  with  that  subject,  certainly 
it  seems  to  me,  the  considerations  involved  are  those  appropriate  ta 
the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations. 

I  have  no  personal  objection  myself— and  if  I  had  it  would  be  coun 
terbalanced — to  considering  this  bill,  because  it  so  chances  that  I  am 
a  member  of  each  of  these  committees.  It  is  not  therefore  in  my  own 
behalf  in  any  sense  that  I  make  this  suggestion ;  but  it  seems  to  me 
very  clear  that  a  measure  which  is  to  execute,  to  coincide  with,  or  to 
impinge  upon  an  existing  treaty,  ought  appropriately  to  be  consid 
ered  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  and  not  by  the  Commit 
tee  on  Commerce,  although  in  some  general  sense  or  relation  the  bill 
may  be  commercial  in  its  effect.  Congress  has  power  to  regulate  com 
merce  with  foreign  nations,  and  anything  that  regulates  commerce 
merely  is  appropriately  referred  to  the  committee  having  charge  of 
such  topics ;  but  every  Senator  must  see  that  a  provision  restricting 
emigration  from  a  foreign  land  which  emigration  proceeds  largely  in 
consequence  of  a  treaty  made  with  that  country,  is  a  great  deal  more 
than  a  matter  concerning  commercial  relations. 

But,  as  I  said,  I  am  not  going  to  be  tenacious  about  this  matter,  for 
it  is  not  likely  in  any  personal  sense  that  it  would  make  a  difference 
to  me  whether  it  goes  to  one  commit  tee  or  to  another  committee,  both 
of  which  I  happen  to  be  a  member  of.  I  have  no  doubt,  however, 
that  the  appropriate  reference  of  the  bill  would  be  to  the  committee 
which  I  suggested  after  finding  that  the  mover  of  the  bill  had  no  ob 
jections  to  its  going  there. 

The  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations. 


